Eye on the Oaks: Birdatthewire

Birdatthewire wins Saturday's Gulfstream Park Oaks by 1 1/4 lengths. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
The sister race to the Kentucky Derby, the $1-million, 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is held annually at Churchill Downs on the Friday before the Derby and restricted to 3-year-old fillies (young female horses). Eye on the Oaks, which will run through the 2015 edition of the race, takes a closer look at fillies who have won important races and could make an impact as we move toward the first Friday in May.
This week we revisit Birdatthewire, a filly we first looked at after she won the Forward Gal Stakes on January 24. She then finished second in the Davona Dale in February and won Saturday's Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park in impressive fashion.
Note that updated sections appear in italics and all staticstics and data also have been updated throughout.

UPDATED: After making a stellar debut on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with a 12.40-to-1 upset in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Forward Gal Stakes, Birdatthewire finished second, just a neck behind winner Ekati's Phaeton, in the Feb. 21 Davona Dale. She then rebounded from that effort to score a stirring 1 1/4-length victory as the favorite in the Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 28. She sits in second place on the Oaks leaderboard with 130 points.
Racing Résumé
After needing four tries to break her maiden, Birdatthewire scored two consecutive victories. She finished third in her career bow in September and couldn’t manage a win in either of her Keeneland starts the following month. The bay filly finally broke through late November, tallying a smart 1 ½-length victory when closing from midpack at Churchill Downs. Among her vanquished foes in that maiden win was Lassofthemohicans, a filly she would meet again in the Forward Gal.
Trainer Dale Romans showed confidence in his maiden-winning filly by entering her in the Grade 2 Forward Gal where she faced the likes of graded stakes winners By the Moon and Seduire as well as highly regarded Enchantress. Though her Equibase Speed Figures had improved with every race, Birdatthewire was sent off as the fourth-longest price in the field of 11. Her backers were rewarded with a stylish win.
Birdatthewire settled in 10th place under Irad Ortiz Jr. while Enchantress, Ekati’s Phaeton and Seduire dueled on the front end, covering a half-mile in 45.36 seconds. While the leading trio began to tire at the top of the lane, Birdatthewire was just launching her bid and swept to the front in midstretch. Her lead widened before Lassofthemohicans closed from seventh to grab second. The final margin of victory was 3 ¼ lengths, and Birdatthewire earned a 94 speed figure for her efforts.
2015 FORWARD GAL STAKES

Video courtesy of Gulfstream Park
UPDATED: The bay daughter of Summer Bird then finished second, a neck behind Ekati's Phaeton in the Davona Dale. Her connections were undeterred and proceeded along the Gulfstream Park Road to the Kentucky Oaks.
Bettors were also undeterred and sent Birdatthewire off as the 1.70-to-1 favorite in Saturday's Gulfstream Park Oaks. Birdatthewire broke near the back of the pack but wanted to rush to the front, with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. repeatedly steadying the filly in the early stages of the race. He finally allowed her to begin to advance on the backstretch, and as the pair exited the turn for home they were three-wide in third place. They quickly hit the front and Birdatthewire was kept to task as she secured a 1 1/4-length win over familiar rival Eskenformoney.
2015 GULFSTREAM PARK OAKS

Video courtesy Gulfstream Park
Ortiz explained his strategy in an interview with the Blood-Horse.
"She was so strong on the backside, I was trying to get her to relax, because she comes from behind—that's her race," Ortiz said. "I tried to do my best to wait. She was pulling, but when I asked her to run, she took off. She was ready. I wasn't sure she would have energy for the end, but she (did). Not too many horses do that."

Previous Editions ofEye on the Oaks 
Seduire
Take Charge Brandi
I'm a Chatterbox
Birdatthewire
Callback
Overprepared
Angela Renee
Condo Commando
Stellar Wind
Sarah Sis
Don't Leave Me

Running Style
UPDATED: Birdatthewire is a closer, and she does her best running when coming from far back into a quick pace. Her first two winning bids began when she was 20 and 10 ¼ lengths behind and the first half-mile was completed in 45 4/5 seconds and 45 2/5 seconds, respectively. On Saturday the track was playing slow, and she closed from 5 1/2 lengths back after a half-mile went in 48 1/5 seconds. Even when she didn’t win, Birdatthewire preferred to be off the pace before commencing a rally.
This style is beneficial because she is, for the most part, content to sit and wait for her jockey’s cue to run, though this time she was a little rank given the slow pace. Fortunately the duo stayed closer to the front and was able to make up the ground needed. A slow pace or traffic trouble while weaving her way through the pack could compromise her chances at victory in future races.
Pedigree
A daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, Birdatthewire twice went unsold when she went through the auction ring in 2013. The third time proved to be the charm as a final bid of $23,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky Fall 2013 Yearling Sale was enough for her to change hands. Birdatthewire is out of the stakes-placed Wagon Limit mare My Limit, and her pedigree, while light on class, shows potential for stretching out to the Oaks’ 1 1/8-mile distance.
The late Summer Bird’s first foals are now 3-year-olds, and Birdatthewire is thus far her sire’s best. Summer Bird has 19 winners from 42 starters, with two other stakes horse from his first crop, Kid Brock and Gulfstream Park Oaks third-place finisher Danessa Deluxe. Summer Bird himself won the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes as well as the 1 1/4-mile Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes en route to being named champion 3-year-old in his only season of racing.
SUMMER BIRD WINS THE TRAVERS

Birdatthewire’s dam, My Limit, did most of her running on the turf and specialized at the 1 1/16-mile distance. Though she spent much of her career in the allowance and upper-level claiming ranks, the mare was stakes-placed  at 1 1/16 miles. She has thrown four winners from four starters and Birdatthewire is by far her most accomplished, with earnings that surpass all of her siblings combined as of March 30, 2015.
Her second dam, Piney Woods, has also thrown a fair number of winners, though My Limit was her only stakes foal. Piney Woods’ High Brass set a track record at a mile, and Duck Hunt was a winner on the flat and over jumps, indicating plenty of stamina there. Two stakes winners appear under third dam Chatham Light, but one must go back to Birdatthewire’s fourth dam, Two for the Show, to find the bulk of her family’s class.
Two for the Show was a winning full-sister to One on the Aisle, who captured the Grade 1 San Juan Capistrano over 1 ¾ miles on the turf. Her half-sister Kapalua Butterfly was a graded stakes winner and half-sister Tigresse d’Amour was graded stakes placed. Two for the Show’s son Who’s to Pay was a multiple graded stakes winner routing on the turf and Lights and Music was a multiple stakes winner.
Birdatthewire is the early star of her ill-fated sire’s first crop. Though her family isn’t overflowing with class, the Gulfstream Park Oaks showed she is better as the distances get longer, and she should have the stamina to last the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Kentucky Oaks.